INFLUENCE OF PALM-BASED FLUID SHORTENING ON THE PHYSICAL AND TEXTURAL PROPERTIES OF BISCUITS

The aim of this research was to evaluate the performance of palm-based fluid shortening on the quality of biscuits in comparison to the control biscuits produced with solid shortening and refined, bleached and deodourised (RBD) palm olein. Solid shortening had the highest content of saturated fatty acids mainly palmitic acid while RBD palm olein contains the highest amount of dominant unsaturated fatty acid which is oleic acid. The fatty acid composition showed an absence of trisaturated fatty acid in RBD palm olein. The hardness of the dough, biscuit dimensions and physical properties were evaluated. The dough of the biscuit containing solid shortening was the stiffest and highest in weight as compared to the dough of the biscuit containing fluid shortening and RBD palm olein. The values for diameter, length, thickness and spread ratio varied significantly (P≤0.05). The study has demonstrated that the weight, thickness, spread ratio, moisture content and hardness of biscuits containing fluid shortening were insignificantly different (P>0.05) with the biscuits containing solid shortening. Biscuits containing solid shortening had the highest lightness value (L*). Thus, the results indicated that the performance of the fluid shortening in biscuits is comparable with solid shortening.